


We Saw Papa Kissing Santa Claus

by cateyedbeauty



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Boys Kissing, Christmas, Domestic Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Light Angst, M/M, Misunderstandings, Parents Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Protectiveness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-27 04:23:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13240350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cateyedbeauty/pseuds/cateyedbeauty
Summary: A night of trying to finally catch Santa turns into hurt and disappointment for the Lightwood-Bane sons; misunderstandings ensue. Magnus can't understand what he's done to deserve the cold shoulder from his usual loving children, but he and Alec are determined to find out.





	We Saw Papa Kissing Santa Claus

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic ever for the Shadowhunters fandom! I wanted to get this posted before Christmas, but my invite didn't get sent until a couple days ago. Idea for this fic came from one of the many times I've heard 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus' this holiday season.

“Is this all really necessary?” Alec grumbled with his arms crossed over his chest staring at his husband from across the family room of their loft.

“Is what, dear?” Magnus asked cheekily in return before turning to take a good look at their Christmas tree. He crossed an arm & brought one hand up to his face, rubbing his chin in concentration while slowly circling the tree, taking in all the surroundings.

“Look at me, Magnus!” whispered Alec, not wanting to wake Max and Rafael, but also in a harsh tone.

Magnus rolled his eyes playfully to himself before dropping his arms and turning to his husband with a deep sigh. He raised an eyebrow in appreciation after taking a good look at Alec.

“Red suits you, Alexander.” He winked.

Before sneaking out of their bedroom that Christmas Eve to leave the presents under the tree for their beautiful children, Magnus had an idea to make this Christmas extra special. After all, it was Rafael’s first Christmas with his new family and Magnus wanted to start new family traditions... something he and Alec could do together for years to come. 

As Alec had neared their bedroom door to get the night started, Magnus snapped his fingers and Alec’s flannel pajama bottoms and plain black t-shirt transformed into an entire Santa suit, black boots and white beard included.

The demon hunter & brave soldier had jumped backwards with a yelp in surprise into Magnus’ snickering chest, bringing his hands up to the new faux beard adorning his face and looking down at the red suit.

“What the fuck?!” he had exclaimed and quickly spinned to face his husband, who was too busy trying to muffle his laughter behind his hand. “Magnus? What did you do?”

“It’s Christmas Eve! Santa has a stop to make in the Lightwood-Bane residence, and many more places to visit around the world. Now chop chop!” he quipped and gave a quick teasing pull on Alec’s beard before pushing past him out of the room.

“When did we agree on this? No, wait. Why am I the one who has to be Santa?”

Magnus scoffed and gave him a ‘really?’ look. Alec raised his eyebrows silently urging him to answer the question.

“I have my reasons, Alexander. Now come on, don’t just stand over there by the door. Come and help me figure out where to leave the presents.”

Alec sighed but followed orders. He may have been the Head of the New York Institute, but at home he was just Alec and Magnus didn’t hesitate to tell Alec what to do, inside or outside of the bedroom. 

Now, as Magnus was still assessing the tree, Alec was busy looking down at himself and couldn’t get over how ridiculous he looked. He said as much too.

“I look ridiculous,” he grumbled, more to himself but loud enough for Magnus to hear.

“Oh for the love of– Alexander, are you going to be complaining the entire time we do this?”

“No, but like I asked 5 seconds ago, is this really necessary? I don’t even look like him!” He threw his hands up.

Magnus gave him another long stare before gasping. Alec raised an eyebrow at this in confusion, wondering what his husband just thought of.

“You’re right,” Magnus said, “you don’t.”

Alec signed in relief. “Great. Now can I please go take th–”

“You’re obviously missing something of vital importance to be the real Santa Claus.” Before Alec could respond, Magnus snapped his fingers  and Alec saw the red suit stretching out.

“Are you kidding me?!” he practically screeched. “You made me fat?!”

“Ever the dramatic, Alexander. No, I just simply fluffed you up all around with pillows. Now, get over here! Where shall we put Rafael’s bike, hm?” he asked while rubbing his thumb and index finger together, ready to snap the gift into existence in an instant.

Feeling defeated, Alec trudged over with his newfound weight to help his husband. After all, he was Santa and Santa couldn’t be slacking on the job.

 

 

XXXXX 

 

 

Meanwhile, Max sat on Rafael’s bed going over their plans to catch Santa. Rafael had been scared at first when Max first mentioned this plan a week ago, but after watching movies like Elf or The Santa Clause, Rafael knew who to expect and that he wasn’t dangerous at all. 

“Okay so the thing we gotta remember is to be quiet.” Max brought his little blue finger to his lips and hushed Rafael for emphasis.

He rolled his eyes, much like the other, older shadowhunter in their family, and said “I’m not the one who’s gonna have that problem. That’s you.”

“Heyyy!” Max gave him an offended look but Rafael just shrugged.

“Don’t make me turn you into a toad,” Max threatened his older brother with a point of his finger.

“You can’t because then Papa and Daddy will be mad at you and Papa will keep you from doing magic forever by putting those invisible lock thingies on your hands,” Rafael replied smugly.

“Then I’ll just go tell Papa and Daddy you’re being mean to me now!”

He moved to slide off the bed but Rafael snagged Max’s arm to stop him. Rafael gave his little brother a long exasperated sigh.

“You can’t do that either. Santa doesn’t visit houses when the parents are awake. You told me that yourself!”

“Oh,” Max replied glumly with a sigh. “Right. Just stop bein’ mean then!”

“Fine fine. What else is the plan?”

Max shrugged. “I dunno. We better hurry before he leaves. I tried to catch him every year but he’s always gone! This year you’re here! That means more presents and he’ll take longer to leave ‘em. Let’s go.”

That time, Rafael let his brother slide off the bed and then quickly did the same after him. Max went to go grab his favorite blanket that he couldn’t live without as of late before returning to his brother. They tip toed carefully across the room side by side towards the door until Rafael saw Max trip in the corner of his eye.

“Whoa!” Max yelped and fell down on his butt.

“Max!” Rafael scolded quietly. “Be quiet!”

“Soooorryyyy. I tripped over my blanket,” he explained while untangling the blue blanket from his legs and rubbing his butt with a pout. “That hurt.”

“Why you even got that thing?”

“It’s my camlafloosh!”

“Your what?” Rafael asked with furrowed eyebrows.

“My camlafloosh.” Max said again.

“I dunno what that means.”

“It’s what the mundane hunters wear so nobody can see ‘em!”

“Max,” Rafael started with a roll of his eyes. “That’s camouflage. And it doesn’t match their skin color, but the stuff around them to blend in.”

Max simply shrugged his shoulders before scrambling to his feet and bundling the blanket closer to him to avoid tripping again. Carefully and quietly, Max opened their shared bedroom door and poked his head out. Down a little ways into the family room he could see the back of a big red figure. Max let out a gasp and quickly pulled his head back into the room. Rafael looked at him curiously.

“What?!”

“He’s here! He’s here! I knew it I knew it I. KNEW. IT!”

“Hey no fair I didn’t get to see!” Rafael complained and went to open the door. He opened the door as quietly as his brother and looked out in the direction of the family room. His eyes widened in amazement, but then quickly the look dropped from his face. “Uh Max?” he whispered behind him.

“Huh?”

“What’s Papa doin’ out there with Santa?”

“Whaaat?! Papa knows Santa?! Lemme see!” Max gently nudged Rafael out of the room so they could both see, standing close to their bedroom door in the shadows so they wouldn’t be seen.

 “Papa’s reallyyy old, right?” Rafael whispered to Max, who nodded. “Then it’s not really shocking he knows Santa. Papa knows millions of people all around the world. He’s lived a long time.”

 “Yeah but he still should’ve told us,” Max huffed but kept a close eye on his Papa talking to Santa. “Whoa look at all those presents. He must’ve told Santa how good we’ve been all year!” he whispered excitedly. 

Rafael nodded his excited agreement as well with a big smile on his face, his eyes filled with wonder. “I wonder if Daddy knows him– by the Angel, Max! Look!” Rafael’s expression turned from excitement to downright hurt and confusion.

“Papa’s kissing Santa Claus!” Max whispered, horrified.

 

 

XXXXX 

 

 

After Magnus finished snapping the last present under the tree he turned to his husband with a content smile on his face. “That’s the last of it,” he said while wiping his hands together.

“Great, now can I take this off?” Alec asked for what seemed to be the hundredth time. 

“Nope.”

 “Magnus, come on. The kids aren’t even gonna see me. What’s the point?!”

 Magnus took slow steps towards Alec  like a predator eyeing his prey. “Alexander, you do know what this holiday is all about, don’t you?”

 “Uhh... presents?” Alec shrugged having never bothered to do any kind of deep thinking or research about this mundane holiday.

 “Giving, Alexander,” Magnus corrected him. “Especially to those you love.”

“What does this–“

He was cut off with a kiss. Slowly, Alec began to kiss him back as the passion between them built up. He ran his tongue along Magnus’ bottom lip asking for access, which was happily granted. Magnus moaned against his lips and brought his arms around Alec’s waist to pull him closer until their bodies were pressed against each other. Alec tilted his head some more and brought his one hand up to cup the back of Magnus’ head, the other resting on his hip. Magnus pulled back abruptly causing Alec to chase his lips. When he didn’t come into contact with his husband’s lips again he pouted.

 “I’ve always had a...” Magnus started, breathing deeply, “certain fantasy.”

 “Oh?” Alec breathed huskily.

 “Yeah,” Magnus whispered practically against Alec’s lips. “How do you feel about roleplaying?” He smirked at Alec’s reaction.

 “R-roleplaying?”

 “Mmhmm...” he murmured and pecked Alec’s lips again quickly.

 “What will I have to do?” Alec asked.

 “Oh, you know...” Magnus trailed off, “show me what it’s like to be on the naughty list. I’ve been a really, really,  _really_  bad boy,” he finished with a mischievous smirk.

 “I uhh... I think I can do that,” Alec replied and pulled Magnus with him to the couch. Alec sat down and Magnus quickly straddled his lap bringing their mouths together in a passionate kiss. 

 “Right here?” Magnus asked, pulling back. 

 Alec nodded.

 “My my, Santa. And here I am thinking that  _I_  was the naughty one,” he quipped before kissing him once more.

 

 

 

XXXXX

 

 

“My eyes! My eyessss!” Max groaned back in their bedroom, scrubbing his eyes with his blanket.

 “Forget about your eyes!” Rafael said from his bed. “What about Daddy’s  _heart_?!”

Max and Rafael didn’t stay around long after seeing their Papa and Santa kiss. Ten seconds of witnessing it was enough for both of the brothers before they ran back into their room, not wanting to see any more; locking the door behind them.

Max climbed onto his bed and sighed staring up at the ceiling. 

“How could Papa do this to Daddy?!” he exclaimed. “I thought he loved him!”

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Rafael mumbled, his eyebrows furrowed harshly. “Why would he marry Daddy just a couple months ago and then kiss somebody else?!”

 “I dunno.” Max shook his head. “I really don’t like Papa right now,” he grumbled. “Daddy is gonna cry.”

 “Should we even tell him, Max?”

 “Huh?”

 “Daddy,” Rafael clarified. “Should we even tell Daddy that Papa was kissing someone else?”

 “I guess not? Not if it’ll make him cry...”

 “But what if Papa left us for the North Pole?” Rafael offered. “Daddy will wanna know why.”

Max sighed again. “Let’s just see what happens in the morning. I’m tired. This Christmas is the worst,” Max sniffled and curled into the covers.

Rafael nodded, even though his brother couldn’t see. “Goodnight, Max,” he whispered and closed his eyes.

 

 

XXXXX

 

 

“Mmm... good morning,” Magnus murmured against Alec’s bare chest. He gave a peck into his dark chest hair before snuggling closer to his husband in their bed. 

“Morning,” Alec replied with a content sigh in his soft morning voice. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to Magnus’ temple. “Kids up yet?”

“Doesn’t seem like it. Kinda weird, don’t you think? They’re usually up before the sun on Christmas morning... well, Blueberry is. Oh Alexander I’m so excited to see Rafe’s expression seeing all his presents on his first Christmas with us!”

Alec smiled fondly. “He’s really gonna love it all. They both are.”

“Let’s go wake them up,” Magnus offered.

“Sure.”

Magnus and Alec ventured off out of their bedroom excited to wake their children up only to find the pair sitting quietly on the couch with their heads down. Both pairs of legs swung back and forth lazily where they sat. Neither looked up when they heard their parents’ bedroom door open.

Magnus and Alec gave each other a look of confusion before walking over to their children.

Alec nudged Magnus subtly to try and see what was wrong with their kids. Nodding back to his husband, Magnus cleared his throat and exclaimed in his most cheerful voice, “Merry Christmas, kids!” 

Rafael was the first to look up, but said nothing; still swinging his legs with his hands folded on his lap. He looked between Magnus and Alec, and Magnus swore he saw Rafael squint with disdain in his direction.

“Merry Christmas, Daddy,” Rafael finally spoke up and got up from the couch running towards Alec with his arms out. Alec furrowed his brows in confusion and quickly squatted to hug his son. He peeked a glance upwards towards Magnus who was looking nothing short of distraught, his jaw hanging slightly open. He was completely ignored.

“Yeah,” Max added, getting off the couch as well and running towards Alec. “Merry Christmas, Daddy.” He gave his father a hug too.

With both boys in his arms, Alec looked toward Magnus once again. He still held the same expression as before, helplessly watching his children ignore him and give him the cold shoulder.

“Uh, merry Christmas, guys,” Alec replied to them. He gave them both a quick kiss on the sides of their heads. “Is there anything you want to say to Papa?” he offered with a gesture up towards his husband.

The boys looked up at their Papa. Magnus swallowed the lump in his throat and gave a weak smile.

“Merr’ Chrimmus,” the boys muttered under their breath, dropping their gazes at their Papa and stared at the floor as they said it.

Magnus pursed his lips in an attempt not to let his emotions overpower him. It was hard not to though when 2 out of his 3 reasons for living were obviously furious and upset with him. Why? He didn’t know. 

“Guys, why don’t you start opening your gifts from Santa? Papa and I will be right over here watching. Alright?” Alec told them gently. Both boys sighed but nodded and slowly inched towards the gifts.

The gifts from the man who was trying to steal Papa from their Daddy.

Alec grabbed Magnus’ hand and brought him closer to him.

“Alexander,” Magnus whispered quickly, his voice filled with panic. “What did I do?”

“Nothing. Listen, we’ll get to the bottom of this. You haven’t done anything, okay?,” Alec whispered back in a gentle, soothing voice; one he used only with his family. “Everything was fine last night putting them to bed. What could’ve changed in 9 hours?”

Magnus shrugged and glanced toward his two children. They were opening their gifts with less enthusiasm he could’ve ever imagined. It was almost like opening gifts from a magical being was a chore to them.

“Look at them. It’s like Santa personally offended them!”

“I know,” Alec replied. “We’ll figure it out,” he repeated. “For now, let’s just let them get all... whatever this is... out of their systems.” 

“Fine,” Magnus sighed, continuing to watch them.

A half hour later and wrapping paper galore littering the entire family room, the boys sat around the tree still looking like every ounce of enthusiasm was sucked out of them. They were sulking and kicking the wrapping paper around lazily trying to fill the room with something other than the awkward silence.

Suddenly, Max perked up a bit. Both Magnus and Alec caught it and hope filled Magnus’ eyes. Finally his kids, or at least one, were coming around. He patted Alec’s leg with a bit of excitement.

Max turned towards his parents and spoke directly to Alec. “Me and Rafe made something for you, Daddy.” He quickly got up on his little legs and raced towards his bedroom. 

The light quickly vanished from Magnus’ eyes.

“I’m sure they made something for you too,” Alec whispered to his husband, giving his back a reassuring rub.

When Max got back with a wrapped gift, Rafael got up and walked over to join them.

“This will make you happy, Daddy. Just know we love you,” Rafael told him as Max handed over the gift. Alec slowly dropped his hand from Magnus’ back and took the gift. He gave his husband a look of guilt for opening it in front of him like this when the kids came with only one gift.

Alec tore off the wrapping paper quickly like he was ripping off a bandaid and took in the handmade item.

“It’s for your stele!” Max exclaimed. It was a cylinder-like shape of clay that was molded wide enough that Alec could easily slip his stele into. All around it were hand-painted runes made with black paint for “protection”. There was a base where he could keep it on his bedside table standing up. His stele now had its own designated spot instead of left haphazardly in a jacket pocket or lost somewhere else in the loft. 

“Wow,” Alec smiled widely, earning him an even greater smile in return from his two sons. “This is amazing. Thank you so much. I love it, and I love you both.” He leaned towards them and kissed them both on the head.

“We made it all by ourselves!” Max said proudly with a smug little grin. Rafael nudged his little brother gently.

“Aunt Clary helped us,” Rafael admitted. 

Max rolled his eyes. “Yeah but we did most of the work.”

Alec chuckled and ruffled Max’s hair. “Well, it’s great and well made. Thank you both so much.”

Magnus, who had been sitting beside his husband quietly the whole time, offered a weak smile. Truth be told, while he was ecstatic his boys gave Alec such a thoughtful gift, he was jealous. He was jealous he had been cast aside like he didn’t matter to them in what seemed like a blink of an eye. He couldn’t understand what changed so drastically. What did he do? In all his 400 years of living and being used and manipulated by thousands of people, being treated like this by his two sons hurt the most. And the worst part is no matter how much he racked his brain he couldn’t figure out why. He cleared his throat to control his emotions.

“Okay, now that I opened my gift it’s time for Papa to open his,” Alec said.

The boys glanced at each other and stayed silent.

“Boys,” Alec questioned, arching an eyebrow. They looked his way. “Don’t you have anything for Papa?”

They shook their head. No.

Magnus stood up abruptly and turned his head so no one could see the tears beginning to fall.

“Excuse me,” he mumbled and quickly made his way into his and Alec’s bedroom, shutting the door softly. The sound of the lock filled the apartment.

Alec watched him go helplessly, wanting to hold him close and tell him everything was going to be okay. That the boys loved him. Seeing his husband hurting made him hurt just as much. He needed to fix this. Now.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Alec demanded in a stern voice. No more beating around the bush. The gentle tone was gone; he needed answers.

“Answer me. Now.”

Rafael looked at his brother, silently questioning what they should do. Should they say anything? Do they tell their Daddy that Papa was kissing another person?

Rafael didn’t have to wait long because Max, of course, blurted it out for them.

“We saw Papa kissing someone!” Max must have been surprised as Alec at the explosion because Max hurried to cover his mouth with his little blue hands.

Alec stumbled over his words a bit. “Um...” he shook his head, eyes crinkling in confusion. “What?”

“It’s true, Daddy,” Rafael told him, resting a comforting hand on his father’s shoulder. “Papa doesn’t deserve our love when he’s kissing other people. He’s supposed to love  _you_.”

“We didn’t wanna tell you. We want you happy. But we can’t treat Papa the same anymore,” Max said.

“This doesn’t make sense,” Alec mumbled to himself. He briefly looked towards their closed bedroom door and swallowed the lump in his throat. His sons are two smart young boys. They wouldn’t just make something like this up unless they actually saw Magnus kissing someone who wasn’t him... But Magnus loved Alec. Alec knew that. He never felt such strong love from anyone like Magnus ever before. This had to be a misunderstanding.

“I’ll be right back,” Alec told them while standing up. “Thank you for telling me.” He made his way to his bedroom door and knocked softly.

“Magnus?” he called through the door. “Open up. I know what’s wrong. We need to talk.”

The door opened and Alec walked in seeing Magnus laying on his stomach across their bed, his head hidden in his crossed arms. He must’ve opened the door with a flick of magic.

Alec walked over to Magnus and sat down at the edge of the bed, his back to Magnus. He heard his husband sniffling softly into his arms and let that be the only sound for the next minute before opening his mouth.

“They said they saw you kissing someone else,” he finally said.

Suddenly, Magnus was sprung up from his laying position and sitting right beside his Alexander, his eyes wide shaking his head.

“I would never kiss anyone who wasn’t you,” he denied the accusation immediately. “Never in my centuries-old life would I ever think of cheating on you, Alexander. You have to know that.” He was on the fence of downright begging his husband to believe him.

“Shh,” Alec soothed him. “I know. I just... I don’t understand why they would think that. They said they saw you. How could they mistake me for someone else? It had to be me...” he trailed off.

“Of course it was you, Alexander. These lips haven’t touched anyone else’s since before your attempted sham of a wedding years ago.” He shook his head. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

Alec snorted to himself. “I said the same thing.”

“Well then.” Magnus reached up and wiped his eyes getting the fallen tears out of his face. “There’s only one way to find out the meaning of all this. We ask them.”

“Right. I just wanted to come in here and tell you first before they started accusing you to your face and catching you off guard.”

“Well thank you for that.” He snapped his finger and his eye makeup was back to perfection. He held out his hand which his husband took. “Let’s go.”

Back out in the family room, Magnus and Alec found their kids in the same exact position as where they originally found them that morning. Instead of walking around eggshells around them this time though, Magnus was direct.

“So what’s this I hear about me kissing someone else?” He walked over to them and sat on the couch’s arm rest looking down at his sons.

“We saw you,” mumbled Rafael.

“Okay,” Magnus replied, biting his bottom lip trying to think of the right way to go about this. “And where was I?”

“Here,” Max answered.

“‘Here’ as in...”

“By the tree.”

Magnus nodded again. He was slowly getting somewhere now.

“And when was this?”

“Yesterday. We saw you, Papa,” Rafael reiterated. “You hurt Daddy. We thought you loved him.”

“Rafael, I do and will always love your father. He, along with you and your brother are my entire world. Why would I throw you all away for some kiss, which probably wouldn’t even be that good, with somebody else?”

“I dunno,” Rafael shrugged. “But we  _did_  see you.”

“What time was it?”

The boys stayed silent. They weren’t supposed to be out of their beds that late at night. The silence continued.

“Boys, answer Papa,” Alec spoke up.

“Around 11:30,” Max mumbled, answering his father’s authoritative voice immediately.

“In the morning?”

“Nuh uh,” Max answered without looking up.

Realization quickly dawned on Magnus and his face lit up with amusement. He began to laugh loudly, all 3 pairs of eyes turning towards him in confusion.

“Do you think I was out here having an affair with Santa?!” Magnus was barely able to finish his sentence before bursting out laughing again. “As if that man could ever get me. I’m much more magical than he is.”

“Uh I have literally no magic,” Alec said, confused. “Why are you with me then?”

“You have your own special kind of magic, darling,” he flirted with a wink.

“What’s going on?” Max asked looking between his parents. “Papa was kissing Santa last night and you don’t care!” he directed his anger toward Alec.

“I wasn’t kissing Santa, Blueberry.”

“Uh huh! Me and Rafe saw you. We’re not liars!”

“Oh I know you’re not. But you’re mistaken.”

“What you saw was Papa kissing  _me,_ ” Alec explained gently. He didn’t find the situation as amusing as Magnus did. Mostly because his sons caught him in that ridiculous outfit and now will probably never live it down. Plus it caused all this unnecessary drama on what was supposed to be a happy day.

After a moment of silence, Rafe looked at Alec in wonder. “Daddy....  _you’re_  Santa Claus?”

“No, my dears. What you saw was Daddy dressed as Santa to make your Papa happy,” Magnus answered.

Alec blushed deeply. “ _Magnus_ ,” he whined. Manus ignored him with a wave of his hand.

“Why would Daddy dressing up as Santa make you happy?” Rafael questioned.

Magnus walked over to the closet nearby and opened it, taking out the Santa suit. He brought it over to the kids and showed them.

“I’ll tell you in 20 years, Rafe. And you, my Blueberry, I’ll tell in 50 years.”

“Heyyy!” Max complained, as Magnus simply shrugged.

“Here’s what you saw,” he said gesturing towards the suit. “The real Santa had already visited us and left the presents. Daddy and I were just playing around. I kissed no one but your Dad, and it’ll stay that way for a very  _very_  long time.”

Rafael blew out a sigh of relief. “Thank the Angel,” he mumbled before tackling his Papa with a big hug and a kiss on his cheek. “I love you too much to think badly of you like that, Papa. It hurt.”

“I love you too.” Magnus smiled back, holding his son close.

“I’m sorry, Papa. I didn’t mean to be mean.” Max crawled onto his lap and gave him a tight hug. “I just wanted to protect Daddy. His heart coulda broke.”

“Daddy’s heart is safe with me. You have my word.”

Alec blushed and smiled lovingly at his husband. “Same goes for me.” He walked over behind his family and put a reassuring hand on the back of Magnus, giving a gentle squeeze.

“We actually do have something for you, Papa,” Rafael suddenly remembered. “Go get it, Max.” Max nodded and hurried off after sliding off of Magnus’ lap. Magnus clapped excitedly to himself as Max appeared with a much larger gift than Alec’s.

He took it carefully from his youngest.

“Hmmm,” he hummed. “I wonder what this could be.” 

“Open it! Open it! Open it!” Max cheered, now clapping too. 

Magnus ripped off the wrapping paper and threw it behind his head before looking down at the large clay bowl decorated in different languages all saying “I love you”, the biggest message was written right in the center of the bowl in Indonesian. His heart swelled.

“Is this for my potions?” he asked his children, his eyes wide with tears (now for a completely different reason).

“Yup! And all the different languages you know decorating it!” Rafael said proudly. “Aunt Clary helped with this one too,” he shrugged. 

“Would ya stop tellin’ ‘em that?!”

“Well it’s true,” he shot back. 

“It’s okay, boys. We know you did them both and we couldn’t love them more,” said Alec.

“This is absolutely beautiful,” Magnus said in awe, still looking at his gift. “I love it. And I love you two.”

“We love you, Papa.” They hugged him quickly once again.

“Now that  _that_  entertaining part of our day is over, why don’t you show me and Daddy what the  _real_  Santa left you? The one whose lips I’ve never touched.”

Max rolled his eyes playfully, “c’mon! There’s a big bike for Rafe! And there’s this huge blue beanbag chair that’s  _so_  comfy for me!”

Magnus and Alec smiled to each other and clasped their hands together before walking over.

That was a Christmas morning for the history books.

**Author's Note:**

> And there you have it! Let me know what you think! :)


End file.
